Researchers from the Utah Center for Exploring Mind-Body Interactions at the University of Utah Medical School in Salt Lake City conducted a randomized, controlled trial to see whether two mind-body interventions – Mind-Body Bridging (MBB) and Mindfulness Meditation (MM) could improve sleep disturbances and other symptoms in posttreatment cancer survivors, as compared to sleep hygiene education (SHE) as an active control.

Fifty-seven cancer survivors with clinically significant self-reported sleep disturbance were randomly assigned to receive MBB, MM, or SHE. All interventions were conducted in three sessions, once per week. Patient-reported outcomes were assessed via the Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale and other indicators of psychosocial functioning relevant to quality of life, stress, depression, mindfulness, self-compassion, and well-being.

Mixed effects model analysis revealed that mean sleep disturbance symptoms in the MBB (p = .0029) and MM (p = .0499) groups were lower than in the SHE group, indicating that both mind-body interventions improved sleep.

In addition, compared with the SHE group, the MBB group showed reductions in self-reported depression symptoms (p = .040) and improvements in overall levels of mindfulness (p = .018), self-compassion (p = .028), and well-being (p = .019) at postintervention.

Because MBB produced additional secondary benefits, MBB may serve as a promising multipurpose intervention for posttreatment cancer survivors suffering from sleep disturbance and other comorbid symptoms.

Researchers from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, compared the effectiveness of 2 evidence-based group interventions to help stressed breast cancer survivors cope - mindfulness-based cancer recovery (MBCR) and classic, supportive-expressive group therapy (SET).

This multisite, randomized controlled trial assigned 271 distressed survivors of stage I - III breast cancer to one of the two group interventions or a 1-day stress management control condition.

MBCR focused on training in mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga, whereas SET focused on emotional expression and group support. Both intervention groups included 18 hours of professional contact.

Measures were collected at baseline and post-intervention by blinded assessors. Primary outcome measures were mood and diurnal salivary cortisol slopes. Secondary outcomes were stress symptoms, quality of life and social support.

Using linear mixed-effects models, in intent-to-treat analyses, cortisol slopes were maintained over time in both SET (P = .002) and MBCR (P = .011) groups, relative to the control group, whose cortisol slopes became flatter.

Women in MBCR improved more over time on stress symptoms, as compared with women in both the SET (P = .009) and control (P = .024) groups.

Per-protocol analyses showed greater improvements in the MBCR group in quality of life compared with the control group (P = .005) and in social support compared with the SET group (P = .012).

In this largest trial to date, MBCR was superior for improving a range of psychological outcomes for distressed survivors of breast cancer. Both SET and MBCR also resulted in more normative diurnal cortisol profiles than the control condition.

Researchers from the Department of Rehab Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle evaluated the effects of a single session of four non-pharmacological pain interventions, relative to a sham procedure, on pain and electroencephalogram- (EEG-) assessed brain oscillation, in order to determine the extent to which intervention-related changes in perceived pain intensity are associated with changes in brain oscillations.

Thirty individuals with spinal cord injury and chronic pain were given an EEG and were tested for pain before and after five different procedures (hypnosis, meditation, transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS], neurofeedback, and a control sham tDCS procedure).

Each procedure was associated with a different pattern of changes in brain activity, and all active procedures were significantly different from the control procedure in at least three bandwidths.

However, very weak and mostly non-significant associations were found between changes in EEG-assessed brain activity and pain.

The investigators conclude that different non-pharmacological pain treatments have distinctive effects on brain oscillation patterns, but that changes in EEG-assessed brain oscillations are not significantly associated with changes in pain.

Therefore, although this study offers new findings regarding the unique effects of four non-pharmacological treatments on pain and brain activity, these shifts do not appear to be useful for explaining the benefits of these treatments.

MBSR and AE participants were also compared with a separate untreated group of 29 adults (44.8% female; 48.3% Caucasian; age [M ± SD]: 32.3 ± 9.4) with generalized social anxiety, who completed assessments over a comparable time period with no intervening treatment.

A 2 (Group) x 2 (Time) repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) on measures of clinical symptoms and well-being were conducted to examine pre-intervention to post-intervention and pre-intervention to 3-month follow-up.

Both MBSR and AE were associated with reductions in social anxiety and depression and increases in subjective well-being, both immediately post-intervention and at 3 months post-intervention.

When participants in the randomized controlled trial were compared with the untreated group, participants in both interventions exhibited improvements on measures of clinical symptoms and well-being.

Researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia, investigated the efficacy of mindfulness training in comparison with relaxation training on acute pain - threshold and tolerance - during a cold pressor task.

Undergraduate psychology students (n = 140) were randomly assigned to receive reassuring or threatening information about the cold pressor. Participants were then re-randomized to receive mindfulness or the control intervention- relaxation training.

Analyses confirmed that the threat manipulation was effective in increasing worry, fear of harm and expectations of pain, and reducing coping efficacy.

Interaction effects revealed that mindfulness was effective in increasing curiosity and reducing de-centering under conditions of high threat, but not for low threat. Other interactions on cognitive variables (attentional bias to pain and self-focus) confirmed that mindfulness and relaxation appeared to exert influences under different conditions (i.e. mindfulness for high threat; and relaxation for low threat).

Despite these cognitive effects being discerned under different conditions, there were no differences between mindfulness and relaxation on pain, tolerance or threshold in either threat group.

Investigators conclude that the results show that a single, brief session of mindfulness, based on body scanning, is not sufficient to change the way in which individuals approach an experimental pain task, in comparison with relaxation.

In a feasibility study at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, investigators looked at whether Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) could decrease blood pressure in low-income, urban, African-American older adults, and whether such an intervention would be acceptable to and feasible with minority, low income, older adults when provided at home.

The study was launched because (1) hypertension affects a large proportion of urban African-American older adults; and (2) many older adults don’t have access to medications and/or don’t take them when they do have them.

Participants were at least 62 years old and residents of a low-income senior residence. All were African-American, mostly female. Twenty participants were randomized to the mindfulness-based intervention or a social support control group, both of which were 8 weeks duration.
Blood pressure was measured with the Omron automatic blood pressure machine at baseline and at the end of the 8-week intervention.

A multivariate regression analysis was performed on the difference in scores between baseline and post-intervention blood pressure scores, controlling for age, education, smoking status, and anti-hypertensive medication use. Effect sizes were calculated to quantify the relationship between participation in the mindfulness-based intervention and the blood pressure scores.

Attendance remained 98% in all 8 weeks in both the experimental group and the controls.

The average systolic blood pressure decreased for both groups post-intervention. Individuals in the intervention group exhibited a 21.92-mmHg lower systolic blood pressure compared to the social support control group at the end of the intervention period, statistically significant at p=0.020.

The average diastolic blood pressure decreased in the intervention group (16.70-mmHg lower) at the end of the 8 weeks, while it increased in the social support group, statistically significant at p=0.003.

The researchers conclude that older adult women are at a time in life when a reflective, stationary intervention like MBSR, delivered in residence, could be an appealing mechanism to improve blood pressure. These preliminary results warrant larger trials in this hypertensive study population.

Researchers from Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC, conducted a randomized controlled pilot comparing the viability of two mind-body workplace stress reduction programs - one therapeutic yoga-based and the other mindfulness-based - in order to set the stage for larger cost-effectiveness trials. Additionally, 2 delivery venues of the mindfulness-based program were evaluated (online vs. in-person).

Group differences were examined over time on perceived stress and secondary measures to clarify which variables to include in future studies: sleep quality, mood, pain levels, work productivity, mindfulness, blood pressure, breathing rate, and heart rate variability.

Two hundred and thirty-nine employee volunteers were randomized into a therapeutic yoga worksite stress reduction program, 1 of 2 mindfulness-based programs, or a control group that participated only in assessment.

Compared with the control group, the two kinds of mind-body interventions showed significantly greater improvements on perceived stress, sleep quality, and the heart rhythm coherence ratio of heart rate variability.

The two delivery venues for the mindfulness program produced basically equivalent results.

Investigators conclude that both the mindfulness-based and the therapeutic yoga programs may provide viable and effective interventions to target high stress levels, sleep quality, and autonomic balance in employees.

Investigators from Buenos Aires University examined psychoneuroendocrine responses to three different types of stress management programs. The first arm was training in deep breathing, relaxation response, meditation, and guided imagery (RRGI); the second arm was training in cognitive behavioral techniques (CB); and the third arm of the study included both RRGI and CB (RRGICB).

Fifty-two undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of the 3 conditions or a control group. A pre/post experimental design was used, measuring anxiety, anger, hopelessness, neuroticism, respiration rate, and salivary cortisol levels.

The researchers conclude that the combination of deep breathing, relaxation response, meditation, and guided imagery techniques along with CB appeared highly effective at helping people to deal with stress, at least in the short term.

Researchers from University Medical Center in Freiburg, Germany, investigated the efficacy of an 8 week MBSR intervention (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, a structured training in developing nonjudgmental awareness of moment-to-moment experience) with mindful yoga exercises, on enhanced well being of fibromyalgia patients.

In this 3-armed trial, a total of 177 female patients were randomized to one of the following conditions: (1) MBSR, (2) an active control procedure controlling for nonspecific effects of MBSR, or (3) a wait list.

The major outcome sought was for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) 2 months post-treatment. Secondary outcomes were disorder-specific quality of life, depression, pain, anxiety, somatic complaints, and a proposed index of mindfulness.

Eighty-two percent of the patients completed the study. No significant differences were found between groups on primary outcome, but patients overall improved in HRQoL at short-term follow-up (P=0.004).

Furthermore, multivariate analysis of secondary measures indicated modest benefits for MBSR patients. MBSR yielded significant pre-to-post-intervention improvements in 6 of 8 secondary outcome variables, the active control in only 3, and the wait list in only 2.

In conclusion, primary outcome analyses did not support the efficacy of MBSR in fibromyalgia, although patients in the MBSR arm appeared to benefit most. Effect sizes were small compared to the earlier, quasi-randomized investigation. Several methodological aspects are discussed, e.g., patient burden, treatment preference and motivation, which may provide explanations for differences.

Researchers from King's College and the Institute of Psychiatry performed a qualitative study to explore how practicing mindfulness related to living with and managing bipolar illness.

Qualitative methodology was used to explore the experiences of 12 people with bipolar illness who had been practicing mindfulness for at least 18 weeks. Semi-structured interviews exploring how the practice of mindfulness meditation affected their living with their condition were recorded verbatim, transcribed, and then analyzed using thematic analysis.